Unionized auto workers angry about job losses stepped up their ongoing protest against General Motors on Saturday by shutting down a pickup assembly plant in the Canadian town of Oshawa, Ontario.
Workers formed a convoy of some 200 vehicles and drove around the plant at around 10 kilometers (six miles) an hour, preventing delivery trucks from entering the plant, the CBC reported.
Angry auto workers have been blocking the entrance to GM's Canadian headquarters to protest job cuts since Wednesday.
“This is the first time that we've come out with a blockade,” Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) spokesman Keith Osborne told CBC television.
Union officials are angry at GM's June 3 announcement that it plans to close four North American truck and sport utility vehicle plants, including the Oshawa plant.
The company said it would impact 1,000 Canadian workers, but the union said the targeted plant employs 2,600.
GM's announcement came just weeks after the CAW signed a three-year agreement with the company that would freeze worker wages and reduce benefits in exchange for job stability.
Union officials see the June 3 announcement as a betrayal of the May contract.
CAW officials did not dismiss the possibility of a broader strike by the 13,000 GM employees in Canada to force GM to re-consider its decision.
